The Sardinian wildcat (or, less commonly, the Sardinian lynx) is an isolated population of

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

s (''Felis catus'') on the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

, introduced during the Roman Empire. It has historically been misidentified as a species of

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

or a subspecies of

wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

. Under the name ''Felis lybica sarda'', it is locally protected as a rare species.

Taxonomic history

The population was first described as a wildcat as ''Felis libyca sarda'' by

Fernand Lataste Fernand Lataste (1847–1934) was a French zoologist and herpetologist born in Cadillac, Gironde. From 1880 to 1884, he collected reptiles and amphibians in North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco), publishing ''"Les missions scientifiques d ...

in 1885, based on the skin and skull of a male cat from

Sarrabus Sarrabus-Gerrei is a sub-region of south-eastern Sardinia, Italy. Sarrabus Traditionally Sarrabus, probably from the Roman-time city of Sarcopos, occupies the area of the communes of Castiadas, Muravera, San Vito and Villaputzu, corresponding ...

in Sardinia, which he wrote resembled an African wildcat but more reddish, grey, and brown, and with longer hairs on the back. Another name, ''Felis mediterranea'', was also proposed for wildcats from Sardinia in 1896. In 1910 it was reclassified as ''Felis ocreate sarda'', while in 1912 it was considered a full species ''Felis sarda'' by Miller. The Sardinian lynx with the

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''Lynx lynx sardiniae'' was proposed by the Italian biologist Pasquale Mola in 1908 for two

zoological specimen A zoological specimen is an animal or part of an animal preserved for scientific use. Various uses are: to verify the identity of a (species), to allow study, increase public knowledge of zoology. Zoological specimens are extremely diverse. Exampl ...

s of a

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

from

Nuoro Nuoro ( ; ) is a city and (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of Mount Ortobene. It is the capital of the province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,347 (2011), it is the sixth-largest city in Sardinia. Its ...

that were part of the zoological collection of the

University of Sassari The University of Sassari (, UniSS) is a public university located in Sassari, Italy. It was founded in 1562 and is organized in 13 departments. The University of Sassari earned first place in the rankings for the best “medium-sized” Italian ...

. These specimens were reassessed in 1911 by

Alessandro Ghigi Alessandro Ghigi (9 February 1875 – 20 November 1970) was an Italian zoologist, naturalist and environmentalist. Life Alessandro Ghigi was born in Bologna on 9 February 1875. He attended the University of Bologna, graduating with a degree in ...

who identified them as Sardinian wildcats. Gighi's assessment was corroborated in 1981 by an Italian biologist who examined the still available mounted specimen initially described by Mola. Following taxonomic changes around '' Felis lybica'', an updated name is ''Felis lybica sarda''. The term ''Felis silvestris lybica'' var. ''sarda'', using an outdated name for the African wildcat, was also used in one paper. Results of zooarchaeological research indicate that Sardinian wild cats descended from domestic cats that were introduced around the beginning of the first millennium during the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, and probably originated in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

Description

Mola described the body length of these specimens as with a long tail and a shoulder height of . Their long and dense fur was fulvous on the back and whitish on the belly. He considered them to be a crossing of a

and a

domestic cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small Domestication, domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have sh ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3655943 Mammals described in 1908 Pleistocene carnivorans

Taxonomic history

Description

See also

References